The present invention relates to tools for use in speech therapy and specifically to a tongue lifter.
It is believed that about 10% of American people have some kind of speech problem. The most common type of speech problem is an articulation problem where a person is unable to pronounce specific sounds of American English. The two sounds that most people have difficulty in pronouncing are the xe2x80x9cesssxe2x80x9d /s/ sound and the xe2x80x9cerxe2x80x9d /3xcx9c/ sound. Of the two, most people have problems pronouncing the /3xcx9c/ sound. Proper pronunciation of the /3xcx9c/ sound requires elevation of the rear and middle portions of the tongue. This type of tongue elevation is hard to illustrate to a patient, thereby making it difficult to teach.
To teach proper tongue positioning for pronouncing the /3xcx9c/ sound, many speech language pathologists currently use a common tongue depressor to elevate the tongue. The problem with a tongue depressor is that it offers inadequate support to the tongue and the tongue tends to roll off the depressor. Moreover, because a tongue depressor is planar, its edge is used to lift the tongue. Even though, the edge of the tongue depressor is sometimes rounded, use of the edge to lift the tongue may often result in injury, as for example, a laceration of the tongue.
Consequently, a tongue lifter is desired that can be used for positioning the tongue of a person in the appropriate elevated position for pronouncing the /3xcx9c/ sound and for teaching such person the proper position of the tongue for pronouncing the /3xcx9c/ sound. Moreover, a tongue lifter is desired that is capable of supporting the tongue at the appropriate position without risk of injury to the tongue.